ISOPE-2016The Twenty-sixth (2016) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference, Rhodes
(Rodos), Greece, June 26–July 2, 2016
MARITIME SAFETY IN THE HIGH NORTH
– RISK AND PREPAREDNESS
Nataliya A. Marchenko1, Odd J. Borch2, Sergey V. Markov3, Natalia Andreassen2
1
Department of Arctic Technology, the University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway
2
Bodø Graduate School of Business, University of Nordland, Bodø, Norway
3
Institute of Complex Safety, Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Arkhangelsk, Russia
ABSTRACT
Increasing human activity in the Arctic creates great concern about
possible accidents and their consequences for life and nature. The
sufficient level of preparedness for emergency cases should be defined
and secured. On the base of previous assessment of activity level and
risk matrix and analysis of existing search and rescue resources, the
estimation of preparedness system has been done. Three regions
(mainland Norway, Svalbard area and Russian part of the Barents Sea)
are under consideration and comparison. The international
collaboration for safety on the sea is very important in the border area.
In this study, we focus in particular on 3 regions: Norwegian areas
around Svalbard, along the coast of mainland Norway and on WestRussian Arctic in the Barents Sea up to Novaya Zemlya (Fig.1). This
sector creates the gateway to the Arctic and in the case of global
warming the development here, especially on Svalbard, will serve as a
model for the changing in other regions of the Arctic. Situation which
we have now on Svalbard (tourist vessel with 3000 passengers on 80
oN, for example) can be repeated on Greenland, North of Canada or
Franz Josef Land or Novaya Zemlya with characteristic problems.
That’s why our study can have global perspective and interest.
KEY WORDS:
maritime; safety; risk assessment; preparedness;
Arctic; navigation; accident;
INTRODUCTION
The modern development of the Arctic creates a need for understanding
of the risk factors, risk mitigating tools, and adequate rescue system
capacities in the different area. Safe maritime operations in the High
North depend on the risk assessment, preparations and preparedness of
the companies involved as well as the government. Activities in the
Arctic are challenged by limited infrastructure, long distances and harsh
weather conditions.
The presented work is the part of MarPART (Maritime preparedness
and International Collaboration in the High North) project, where the
researchers and responsible for safety organizations of all the countries
of Atlantic Sector of the Arctic on the base of activity and risk
estimation should find the way of cross-institutional and cross-country
partnership (Nord Universitet, 2016). That is especially important on
High North with rare population and limited rescue resources.
Activity and probability of accidents differ in various parts of the
Arctic, due to geographical, economic and historical reasons.
Figure 1. Three regions under consideration. Base map is “Norwegian
rescue service's area of responsibility” (red lines) (BarentsWatch,
2013). Key ports and rescue centers are shown
The paper aims to analyze the rescue system resource capacities. It is
necessary to discuss the preparedness system considering the volatile
environment, activity levels and risks assessments done for these three
regions of the High North. The article starts with describing main
characteristics of the studied regions and risks for consequences from
different unwanted events and different types of vessels. Then SAR
resource capacity is analyzed for each area. Elaborating on crucial
factors which may challenge the system capacities we discuss the main
suggestions for improving SAR resource capacity and conclude about
needed efforts in the preparedness system development.
number hundred times more than tankers and 10 times more than
refrigerators and loader ships.
THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE STUDIED REGIONS
1) Svalbard region in defined limits has area approximately 850 000
sq.km and only near 2800 population. Natural conditions characterize
by long polar day and night; harsh weather with low temperature and
wind during all the year and sea ice in the North. There is very small
economic activity limited by fishery, tourism and coal mining in
Longyearbyen, Barentsburg and Svea (mine has been closed at the end
2015, due to low coal prices). Among navigational difficulties are not
sufficient charts, especially on east coast of Svalbard, reduced satellite
coverage and sea ice on the North. Coal mining, fishery, tourism and
science/education are the main activities on the archipelago. They
provide the reasons for marine transport and determine the type of
vessels needed, as well as ship traffic patterns. Ship traffic density is
rather low compared to that near mainland Norway and has large
seasonal variation with summer peak, but the pattern is quite stable
from year to year. For example, the number of fishing vessels changes
from 10-20 in January-May to 30-40 in June-August, and again to 5060 vessels in September-December.
2) The water area of Mainland Northern Norway sector is
approximately 800 000 sq.km and nearly 500 000 people leave in the
region. Natural features are short period with polar night/day, strong
influence of North-Atlantic current and often storms due to polar low.
There is a high economic activity, rather equal activities along the
region. Except fishery and shipping, oil and gas exploration and
exploitation make the face of maritime life. Storms, icing, “Heavy
traffic” on most common ship routes and ports are the main
navigational Maritime activity is quite stable during the year without
big seasonal variation.
3) Russian part of Barents Sea has area 1,400 000 sq.km and coastal
population approximately 700 000 people. Polar night/day long on the
North and Short on South; polar low; fading North-Atlantic current and
strong influence of Arctic; sea ice, coming from Arctic Ocean and via
Kara gate are the main natural features of the region. All economic
activities concentrate in the South part, cargo shipping and fishery are
complemented by oil/gas exploration in south-east part. The amount of
vessels is quite stable during the year with seasonal increase due in
summer to Northern Sea Route activity. Depending on weather and ice
conditions, ships sometimes prefer the route north to the Novaya
Zemlya, rounding Mys Zhelaniya (cape of Desire) to the way via Kara
Gate. Respectively in such cases there are some ships in the Northern
part of region.
ACTIVITY LEVEL AND RISK ASSESMENT
In (Marchenko et al., 2015) we describe the maritime activity and
provide risk assessment matrixes for environment and human beings
for these 3 regions. In the recent years the ship traffic in the regions
continues to grow, which can be illustrated by the number of calls in
the key ports. See Figure 2 and 3 as example. The difference between
the amount of ships of various types is so big that only logarithmic
scale allows to show the data in appropriate way. For example, for
Hammerfest, passenger, fishing and offshore supply vessels have a call
Figure 2. Number of calls on 3 ports for 2012-2015 (Kystverket, 2016)
Figure 3. The amount of port calls in Hammerfest (Norway)
(Kystverket, 2016)
For risk assessment (Marchenko et al., 2015) we defined three main
groups of ship: 1) Tourist/Cruise ship; 2) Cargo/tanker petroleum
Rigs/floaters; 3) Fishing vessels and 5 types of events:1) Grounding; 2)
Collision (including sea ice); 3) Fire; 4) Violence/terror and 5) others
(mostly technical problem on the ship). The combination of ship type
and events will give us possible variation of accidents, f.i. grounding of
cruise ship (T-G), fire on fishing boat (F-F).
The accidents statistics, AIS data , analyses of consequences (DNV GL,
2014b, DNV GL, 2014a, Sysselmannen på Svalbard, 2013, Kystverket,
2016), and expert opinions have been used for risk matrix creation,
considering a risk as the amount of harm that can be expected to occur
due to a specific event. The risk is then the product of the probability of
accidents multiplied by the severity of consequences. We have
estimated separately risk for nature and for people. For Svalbard region
the risk is mostly moderate as for nature and for the people, because the
low density of ship traffic and low probability of accidents. High risk is
only estimated for people (passengers and crew) in case of Grounding
and collision of a tourist ship: with low probability, but significant
consequences; and in case of a Fire on tourist and cargo ships: with
very low probability but serious consequences –.
At the Norwegian mainland coastline, the frequency of grounding and
fire among fishing and cargo vessels is quite high due to the number of
vessels and operations almost all year round. There is a quite heavy
cargo vessel traffic along the coastline, and the probability of
grounding is quite high, especially in winter.
As for risk to life, fire on board of tourist and cargo ships is a serious
threat, and estimates a high risk. The probability of violent action and
terror is extremely low. However, the consequences both for lives and
for the environment may be disastrous.
The Russian part of the Barents Sea estimates the highest risk for
environment in case of collision and fire on fishing ships and in case of
grounding and fire on a tourist ship. The high risk for lives is estimated
for fishing ships in case of collision and fire; for cargo ships – in case
of collision and for tourist ships- in case of fire.
The matrixes we refer to are illustrated in the Tables 1 and 2.
b)
5 - Frequently
4 - Relatively
frequently
Table 1. Risk matrix of consequences for environment in Russian part
of Barents Sea. Red area symbols high risk, yellow – modern, green –
low
a)5 - Frequently
4 - Relatively
F-G
frequently
3 - Occurs
F-I
T-I,T-G,
2 – Very Rare
F-O,F-F
T-O,
C-O, C-I,
T-F, C-F
1 – Theoretically
F-V, C-V, C-G,
T-V
possible
minor
moderate
significant serious
b)
5 - Frequently
4 - Relatively
F-G
frequently
3 - Occurs
F-F
C-F
C-G
2 – Very Rare
T-F
T-G
1 – Theoretically
F-V
T-V, Cpossible
V
minor
moderate
significant serious
c)
5 - Frequently
4 - Relatively
T-I
F-F
frequently
3 - Occurs
F-G
C-I
T-F, T-G
F-I
2 – Very Rare
C-F, F-O
T-O, T-V
C-O
1 – Theoretically
F-V
C-G,
C-V
possible
minor
moderate
significant serious
3 - Occurs
2 – Very Rare
1 – Theoretically
possible
Table 2. Risk matrix of consequences for people in Russian part of
Barents Sea
a)
5 - Frequently
4 - Relatively
F-G
frequently
3 - Occurs
2 – Very Rare
F-I
F-O
1 – Theoretically
possible
minor
C-O, CI,T-O
C-G
moderate
T-I,T-G
F-F
T-F, C-F
F-V,C-V
T-V
significant
serious
F-G
3 - Occurs
C-G, C-F,
F-F
2 – Very Rare
1 – Theoretically
possible
c)
5 - Frequently
4 - Relatively
frequently
T-F
C-V, F-V
T-G
T-V
serious
minor
moderate
significant
T-I
C-I
F-F
F-G
C-F
T-G,
F-O
F-V
T-F, F-I
C-O, T-V
C-G
T-O
C-V
minor
moderate
significant
serious
SEARCH AND RESCUE (SAR) RESOURCE CAPACITY
Svalbard Area
Locating in the heart of Arctic, the main Svalbard town (Fig. 1) Longyearbyen plays key role in SAR preparedness for the whole
Western Sector of Arctic. Increasing of activities in high North makes
this role more important and demands international collaborations.
Svalbard Governor as a head of police and local authority is responsible
for SAR service in the limit of 12 mile zone and coordinate it. Outside
this limit governor can help with available resources. Governor’s
employees work in close cooperation with Longyearbyen Hospital,
Coast Guard, Red Cross and Fire service (Sysselmannen på Svalbard,
2013, Sysselmannen på Svalbard, 2010).
In 2014 significant improvement in SAR preparedness has been done.
Since April 2014 two large rescue helicopters Super Puma (instead one
before) are stationed on the islands. One of helicopters has 1 hour
emergency time, so it should be in 1 hour in any place inside 140
nautical mile zone from Longyearbyen with 5 men crew and eventually
medical or other rescue personal. It can take 20 men on the board. 2nd
helicopter has 2 hours emergency time. Lufttransport AS delivers
helicopter service since 1 April 2014. There are 9 fuel depots on
Svalbard, Bjørnøya, Hopen for refueling. That increases reachable area
significantly. Since September 2014 the new 88 meter long, 1B ice
class rescue vessel “Polarsyssel” insures SAR operation in the area
during ca. 6 months per year (May-October). “Polarsyssel” has state of
the art technology enabling it to engage in rescue and emergency
situations under extreme Arctic conditions. Coast Guard vessels
operating in Svalbard area (ice resistant Nordkapp class ships or
icebreaker KV Svalbard) can be used for SAR, fire service and
elimination of oil spills.
The emergence plan in case of environmental pollution was created by
Governor of Svalbard in 2010 (Sysselmannen på Svalbard, 2010). It
includes all key moments, organizations, necessary actions, summarizes
resources.
Arctic survival kit
Hypothermia is the main issue in case of large disaster in very remote
place of the Arctic. Due to long distance, the help can not arrive soon
and most likely in emergency case people will need to wait for several
hours. As it is difficult to evacuate many people in distress quickly,
Longyearbyen Red Cross has created Arctic survival emergency kit for
8 persons, that allowed even unexperienced people to keep warm
themselves for a long time. 30 such kits, dropped by stationed in
Longyearbyen plane DORNIER 228-202K can safe 240 persons, the
amount, exceeding the content of average transpolar plane or adventure
cruiser. With cruise speed more than 300 km/h and range more than
1000 km, during 2 hours after getting emergency signal, DORNIER
228-202K can deliver Arctic Survival kits on the distance of 200 km
from Longyearbyen and reach f.i. very North of Svalbard, Franz Josef
Land or Northern East of Greenland (Fig. 4). Using stantioned on
mainland larger airplane such as Orion with maximum speed 750 km/h
and range 9000 km, during 4 hours Arctic Survival Kits can be
delivered further then North Pole, North of Ellsmere Island in Canada,
North of Taymyr Peninsula and Severnaya Zemlya in Russia.
Figure 4. Area there Arctic Survival Kit can be delivered in 2 and 4
hours after getting signal. Base map is Arctic Search and Rescue
Agreement Area of application illustrative map. Material - courtesy of
Longyearbyen Red Cross.
Arctic Survival kits are owned, copyrighted by Longyearbyen Red
Cross (LRC) and located in Longyearbyen Svalbard. It can be delivered
to emergency place by helicopter, plane, ship, snowmobile. It is air
droppable from long range fixed wing aircraft and was successfully
tested with P-3 Orion and Dornier aircrafts.
Longyearbyen Red Cross (LRC) emergency equipment with total
capacity 400 people includes Field Hospital (1 Surgery room and 4
Care Units capacity 100 people) and Emergency response unit (Tents
for 150 people and 30 bags with Arctic survival kit, capacity 240
people). Each of such 30 waterproof bags contains equipment for 8
Survivors : 4 Jerven bags kings size Thermextreme, 2 Sleeping pads, 8
Bottles of water, 8 Heatpack, 1 Ready heat blanket, 1 Samsplint FirstAid Pillow.
Svalbard in general is very well equipped, but has very limited human
resources. It is not possible constantly have a crew for large-scale SAR
in small town as Longyearbyen. In worse case (due to seasonal
migration) it could be ca.20 high qualified in SAR persons. But it case
of emergency the number can rise till 100-200 owing Red Cross and to
calling in students from the University Center in Svalbard (they all pass
Safety course with first aid) and other skilled volunteers. Longyearbyen
society is very intelligent and enthusiastic, hardened and cohesive in
harsh environments.
Mainland Northern Norway
The Norwegian search and rescue service is administrated by the
Ministry of Justice and Police. The operational coordination is executed
by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centres (JRCC) Southern Norway
and Northern Norway (JRCC, 2016). Norway coordinates rescue
operations from the North Pole, along with the Greenwich Meridian to
the west and to the east up to the coast of Varanger and Russian border.
Northern part of Norway has a wider responsibility area than the
southern, and stretches to the North from 65o north.
To manage an effective SAR response, Norwegian national
preparedness system consists of services and resources administrated
by public agencies, private organizations, and volunteer companies.
This service covers sea, land and air rescue for vast areas of Norway
and coordinates interaction and cooperation of fairly limited resources.
However, the mainland Norway has a better capacity than the Svalbard
area. The Joint Rescue Coordination Center Northern Norway is
situated in Bodø. 20 local Rescue Coordination Centres (LRS) are
placed at the police district headquarters in the mainland Northern
Norway. The joint rescue coordination centers are authorized to use all
available resources of government agencies (Storting, 1961 - 1962).
Therefore, the rescue efforts are closely linked to public health services,
the fire brigades, Norwegian Civil Defense, Police, Norwegian Coastal
Administration, Air Traffic Service and the Armed Forces. This service
is supported by a great number of voluntary and private organizations.
The larger operations are headed by police chief officers in Salten
(Bodø). The JRCC mobilizes additional personnel - the SAR
management team, extra rescue controllers and professional
information officers.
As for communication and navigation resources, the 2 coastal radio
stations of mainland Northern Norway are located in Bodø and Vardø.
They maritime distress frequencies and provide communications for
emergencies at sea (Ministry of Justice and Police, 2002). Vessel
Traffic Service (VTS) in Vardø under the Norwegian Coastal
Administration keeps track of vessel movements and provide
navigational safety in a limited geographical area (The Norwegian
Coastal Administration, 2015). Radars and meteorological sensors,
Automatic Identification System (AIS) and a special reporting system
for vessels traffic SafeSeaNet Norway (SSN N), Dynamic Risk
Assessment (DRA) are important tools of VTS service. Also there are
resources that are used for navigation purposes in SAR – differential
GPS, anti-collision system AIS allowing vessels to exchange
information about their flag, position, speed, course, etc, electronic
navigation map ENC, Application Specific Messages (ASM)
exchanging safety related data between ships, the VHF data exchange
system VDES (Fjørtoft et al., 2015). In the 1980s JRCC were linked up
to international satellite-based emergency communication and alerting
systems and accepted additional coordination duties in connection with
emergencies in distant ocean areas. Satellite detection of ships uses
resources of geostationary satellites, terrestrial communications
systems and Iridium (DNV GL, 2014c)
Rescue helicopters are the important lifesaving resource for SAR
service in the High North. Helicopters Sea King from the №330
Squadron Royal Norwegian Air Force are operated by the Ministry of
Defense and are well-equipped for all kinds of SAR operations. The
Sea King helicopters are at constant alert and may be in the air within
15 minutes. Their capacity is 9715 kg, 18 passengers or 6 stretchers,
and the maximum flight time of 5 hours. The main base with two Sea
King helicopters is in Bodø (Forsvaret, 2016b). In Nordland there are
also one AW139 ambulance helicopter in Brønnøysund (Norsk
Luftambulanse, 2013). The AW139 has capacity of 6400 kg, 12
passengers, or 2 stretchers (Finmeccanica, 2016).
There is also a base in Finnmark county with two Sea King helicopters
in Banak. Also there are two EC225 helicopters (owned by Bristow) in
Hammerfest and one S-92 helicopter (owned by CHC) based in
Hammerfest (VG, 27.10.2012).
In Troms at the Bardufoss air base there are two Bell-412 from №339
Squadron owned by the Ministry of Defense with capacity of 5398 kg
and maximum flight time of 3 hours (4,5 hours with extra fuel tank)
(https://forsvaret.no/fakta/utstyr/Luft/Bell-412-SP);
one
AW-139
helicopter of the Royal Norwegian Air Force; and two NH90
helicopters from the 337 Squadron for the Norwegian Coast Guard with
larger capacity of 10600kg, or 20 passengers or 12 stretchers and
maximum flight time of 6 hours. There is also one AW-139 ambulance
helicopter in Tromsø.
The estimated helicopter coverage for SAR is illustrated on Fig. 5.
Figure 5. Estimated SAR coverage (MARINTEK, 2012)
2 surveillance aircrafts (F-16 and Orion) are available in Bodø and
Andøy (DNV GL, 2014c). Ambulance aircrafts of the Northern
Norway are based in Kirkenes, Alta, Tromsø, Bodø and Brønnøysund.
Hospitals with different capacities are located in Mosjøen, Mo I Rana,
Lofoten, Narvik, Harstad, Stokmarknes, Tromsø, Kirkenes and
Hammerfest.
The Coastal Guard fleet in the mainland Northern Norway consists of 3
ice-reinforced offshore patrol vessels of Nordkapp class with helipad
used for northern sea areas - KV Nordkapp, KV Senja and KV
Andenes, 3 offshore patrol vessels of Barents sea class used for oil spill
preparedness and one of them - KV «Sortland» - is additionally
equipped to take the NATO submarine rescue system on board and can
function as the Navy’s underwater platform. KV Harstad with advanced
capacity for oil spill preparedness has booms and bigger tank to operate
further in the sea and resupply diesel to field stations around Jan
Mayen, Hopen and Svalbard. Smaller vessels of Nornen- and Reineclass assist JRCC centers in SAR operations all along the Norwegian
coast (Forsvaret, 2016a). In addition, Norwegian Sea Rescue Society
(NSSR) vessels (40 in operation) are ready for SAR missions.
Survival in cold climate is largely dependent on survival equipment on
board of vessels and rescue vessels, aircrafts, helicopters.
Russian Part of the Barents Sea
SAR forces and resources of the Russian (Eastern) part of the Barents
Sea belong to different functional subsystems of Russian State. They
include subsystems of the Ministry of Emergency Situations
(EMERCOM); the Ministry of transport of the Russian Federation; the
Border service; the Ministry of defense; the Ministry of natural
resources and ecology and the State Corporation for atomic energy
"Rosatom".
EMERCOM ensures the safety of people, an earlier response to
emergencies in the Arctic zone and covers the whole area of
responsibility for the security of the Northern Sea Route. It is planned
to organize 10 specialized emergency centers located throughout the
coastline of the Russian Arctic. Three of them are located in the eastern
part of the Barents Sea - Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Naryan Mar. Each
Arctic Safety Center (ASC) has area of responsibility, tasks, forces and
means, on the base of existing and foreseeable threats. Arctic SAR
system works in a mode of constant readiness and emergency response
to any emergency situations or fire. ASC includes a complex of
emergency rescue information-analytical centers. ASC is equipped with
all-terrain vehicles, universal emergency rescue and fire equipment,
located in specialized containers. It makes possible fast loading and
delivering of specialized equipment for performance of works on
liquidation of consequences of emergency situations of technogenic and
natural-technogenic character. EMERCOM of Russia is entrusted with
analytical, information and control functions with emergency response
in the Eastern part of the Barents Sea.
The Ministry of transport of the Russian Federation implements air and
space search and rescue operations and ensures transport security,
maintain of navigational structures. Russian Transport Ministry created
a rescue sub-centre in Arkhangelsk and Maritime rescue and
coordination center in Murmansk to control situation in the Eastern part
of the Barents Sea. Their SAR resources are tugs – rescue, supply
vessels, diving vessels and boats, rescue vessels and motor boats and
auxiliary vessels and the new modern rescue vessels of unlimited area
of navigation. All rescue coordination centers interact with one another.
There are several planes and helicopters belonged to Federal air
transport Agency assigned to conduct Search and Rescue mission.
Three planes L-410, two planes AN-26, two helicopters Mi-26 and 18
MI-8 are based in Arkhangelsk. Three of these MI-8 helicopters are
constantly on duty. One cargo plane AN-30 equipped with video
monitoring system is in constant readiness in Naryan Mar. Other
resources of Naryan Mar base are sixteen helicopters 16 MI-8, and two
of them are in constant readiness. There are seven helicopters MI-8 in
Murmansk and two of them are constantly on duty.
Federal State Enterprise "Rosmorport", belonged to the Ministry of
transport of the Russian Federation is to ensure the safety of navigation
in water areas of sea ports. “Rosmorport” has a large group of 29
diesel-powered icebreakers. The icebreaker fleet of Russian Federation
is actively developed and renovated after a long pause now.
The border departments of the FSB of Russia in the Eastern part of the
Barents Sea consist of the border post "Nagurskoe" on Franz Josef
Land. The border guards apart of fulfilling their direct task can provide
assistance in emergency case before the other rescue units will arrive to
the place of accident. Several patrol ships and boats belonged to
Russian Navy can be used for assistance
The Ministry of natural resources and environment of the Russian
Federation implements integrated management in the field of
environment protection and natural resources, coordinating
environmental activities of various ministries and departments,
industrial enterprises and organizations. The Ministry organizes public
ecological assessment and widely collaborates with international
environmental organizations. The Ministry interacts with Federal
Hydrometeorological service, Federal Agency for water resources,
Federal forestry Agency and the Federal Agency for subsoil use.
The icebreakers of the Federal state unitary enterprise "Atomflot" is
intended to provide icebreaking pilotage along the NSR and in the
freezing ports of the Russian Federation. Four nuclear icebreakers, one
container vessel and 4 vessels of technological service are based in
Murmansk and can be used in emergency case if available.
The main focus in marine preparedness in Russia is on the special
rescue vessels. The group of the State Marine Rescue Service of
Rosmorrechflot, based in the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. The
fleet is composed of the following emergency rescue ships: the newly
built multipurpose salvage vessels of the strengthened ice class
"Murman", "Baltika" (asymmetric icebreaker) and "Rescuer of the
Kavdeykin". In addition there are raid diving boat "Diver Pechkurov",
marine rescue ship "Captain Martishkin", a marine salvage tug “Agat”,
non-self-propelled floating crane "SPK-19/35" payload capacity 35
tons, as well as support floating assets (all weather rescue boats, dive
boats, booms motorboats and barges). See Figure 6-8
strengthened ice class " Zvezdochka " (Fig.8). This is a head from the
series consisting of four ships which are being built in Severodvinsk
from 2010.
Figure 8. Marine rescuer of Northern fleet “Zvezdochka”.
(Kuleshov, 2014)
Summary for the studied regions
The analyzed SAR resource capacities for the sea regions of Svalbard,
mainland Norway and the Russian part of the Barents Sea are
consolidated in the Table 3.
Table 3. SAR Features of the regions under considerations
Region
1) Svalbard
2) Mainland
3) Russian
area
Norway Coast
Barents Sea
Area
850 000
800 000
1,400 000
sq.km
Population
ca. 2800
ca 500 000
ca. 700 000
ships in the
2 (Jan) -100
1200 – 1400
20-30 (winter
area at the
(Aug)
season)
same time
200-300
(summer
navigations)
Figure 6. Multipurpose salvage vessel "Baltika".
(Rosmorrechflot, 2016)
Mar.
3-5
accidents
per year
SAR resources:
SAR personal ca. 20
person
For emergency response and assistance to victims at sea in case of
large-scale disasters in addition to these vessels may be involved the
court of the Arctic rescue center of EMERCOM of Russia
(Arkhangelsk port), and group disaster rescue force of the Northern
fleet of Naval Fleet of Russia. Below is a photo of the sea rescuer of the
10-20
Several
thousand
Sev.hundred on
duty and
sev.thousand
can be engaged
the number of
volunteers and
procedure of
their
involvement is
not defined
7 on duty and 30
can be engaged.
Volunteers
ca. 50
person (RC)
Several
thousand (RC +
NSRS)
Helicopters
2
(SuperPuma
)+1
1
2 (SuperPuma)
+4 (Sea
King)+7 (Other)
2 (Orion)+5
(Ambulance)
3 (Offshore
patrol) +3(Coast
Guard)+ ca.
40(small boats)
Planes
Figure 7. Multipurpose salvage vessel "Murman".
(Rosmorrechflot, 2016)
300-400
1 on duty and 5
can be engaged
2 (rescue
Vessels
1(Polar
icebreakers)+5
syssel)+1(C
(Rescue Ships)+
oast
ca. 40(small
Guard)+2
boats)
(small boats)
RC – Red Cross; NSRS-Norwegian Sea Rescue Society.
SUGGESTIONS
IMPROVEMENT
FOR
SAR
RESOURCE
CAPACITY
Improvement of SAR resources capacity has been an urgent topic for
the and there are several ways to improve resource capacity for the
mainland Northern Norway. The coordination capacity of the civilian
emergency preparedness system by The Ministry of Justice and Public
Security and Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB) was
assessed recently by the Office of the Auditor General of Norway
(Riksrevisjonen, 2015). The study shows that the national preparedness
system has serious weaknesses in joint efforts from various Norwegian
authorities to improve the system and in evaluating and following-up
the organized emergency exercises and other events. The main
recommendations for the authorities are to reinforce monitoring of the
authorities’ work with the national preparedness system, to improve
coordination and partnership between agencies within the national
preparedness system, to ensure the learning outcomes out of happened
accidents and organized exercises, and to clarify responsibilities of the
Ministry of Justice and Public Security and the DSB for better practice
of coordination and partnership (Riksrevisjonen, 2015) Some
coordination resources should be directed towards better cooperation on
emergency preparedness and development of joint emergency response
concepts based on the principles of shared area-based emergency
response resources (DNV GL 2015). Local Rescue Centers have less
resource capacity, which may lead to delays in response; therefore, the
coordination should be improved (Fjørtoft et al., 2015).
As for communication and navigation resources, DNV GL (DNV GL,
2014c) suggests the improvement of satellite and navigation systems
that are used for SAR operations because of their reduced capacity in
the north areas. Radio signal is sometimes missing because of long
distance between coverage stations, the information value is low
because of lack and misinterpretation. Satellite coverage on the
latitudes of coastal Norway is quite good (DNV GL, 2014c). Outside
the radio coverage satellite telephones /Iridium are used. Fjørtoft et al.
(Fjørtoft et al., 2015) also highlight that communication resource
capacity can be limited because of lack of knowledge about alarming
procedures, cultural peculiarities among different social groups,
bureaucracy or language problems with foreign neighbors. The main
suggestions are directed on development of satellite systems,
procedures and culture for alarming.
Helicopter resources are limited for SAR purposes in the Northern
Norway. Picking up people from boats west of Tromsø is challenging
because Sea King helicopters from Banak and Bodo take a long time to
the area (Joint Rescue Coordination Center, 2015). There is a
suggestion to optimize this preparedness capacity, to enforce capacity
during winter months when preparedness system is especially
vulnerable and to create cooperation connection with standby vessels
from oil installations for refueling helicopters (DNV GL, 2014c)
Long response time of aircrafts reduce air preparedness capacity. It is
suggested to improve the availability and SAR equipment on board
(DNV GL, 2014c).
Attempts should also be directed towards determining the actual
environmental conditions, enhancing evacuation and rescue means,
developing new rescue equipment that is suitable for tough climate,
cold waters and long distances and new requirements for rescue
equipment (DNV GL, 2015).
As for medical resources, the capacity can be improved by better
involving hospitals in rescue service and by establishing necessary
continuous communication and high quality video transmission in order
to implement telemedicine, the newly discussed method, which
investigates, monitors, treats and manages patients using the
communication systems that provide access to expertise regardless of
where the patient and expertise is geographically located (DNV GL,
2014c).
As it was shown above, Svalbard in general is very well equipped, but
has very limited human resources. It is not possible constantly have a
crew for large-scale SAR in small town as Longyearbyen. In worse
case (due to seasonal migration) it could be ca.20 high qualified in SAR
persons and usually it happens in summer, when the maximal amount
of tourists visit Svalbard, and huge tourist ships with 2-3 thousand
people on board are in the area.
But it case of emergency the
number can rise till 100-200 owing Red Cross and to calling in students
from the University Center in Svalbard (they all pass Safety course
with first aid) and other skilled volunteers. Longyearbyen society is
very intelligent and enthusiastic, hardened and cohesive in harsh
environments.
The good examples of fast mobilization and effective rescue operation
are rescue of tourist cruise liners Maxim Gorky, holed by ice in
Greenland Sea at 60 nautical miles west of Svalbard in 1989 and
Heanseatic, grounded in Murchinsonfjorden (Northern fjord of
Svalbard), 1997. During these rescue operations, 575 and 145
passengers (respectively) and large part of the crews had been safely
evacuated in short time, accommodated and treated in Longyearbyen
with warm hospitality.
Russian Federation has considerable resources in the Barents Sea. The
main places of their dislocation are the ports of Murmansk and
Arkhangelsk, Arctic Safety Centers, as well as bases of the Northern
Fleet of the Russian Navy.
The sea area of Barents Sea is 1424 km2. The arrival of rescue forces to
the place of emergency in remote areas of the Barents Sea may occur in
a few days. Therefore, special importance is the problem of speed of
the decision making about the involvement of rescue forces, including
international, with the exception of formalism when crossing state
borders and defining international order of financing of expenses on
implementation of emergency rescue operations and carry emergency
preparedness.
CONCLUSION
In this study we have illuminated the development of the activity level
in the High North, referred to risk assessments in three sea regions in
the High North and analyzed SAR resources for these three regions,
which form a gateway from Atlantic to Arctic. We have showed the
variations of geographical characteristics,, ship traffic and preparedness
capacities. We have also highlighted the main suggestions for SAR
capacity improvement.
In the mainland Northern Norway the traffic levels are quite stable
during year (Marchenko et al., 2015) and almost the same amount of
accidents is registered along the seasons (Joint Rescue Coordination
Center, 2015). Therefore, the risks of accidents frequency would be
relatively the same considering seasonality. However, for SAR service
and consequences significance, some variables are crucial. For the
region of mainland Northern Norway long distance already west of
Tromsø may cause the dynamics of risk assessments. As for navigation
area factors communication challenges in alarming procedures and
language closer to Russian border can influence the risk assessments.
Taking into consideration the lack of preparedness systems in sea areas
such as the Svalbard region, the consequences are significant in most
cases. There is a well-developed emergency system in coastal Norway
close to the mainland. However, when there are incidents with larger
ships such as cruise vessels or oil installations the whole system may be
put to a test. In the Svalbard region and Russian part of the Barents Sea,
the risk related to both grounding and collision with ice is rather high,
but the number of ships is limited. When it comes to fire and terror
there are severe challenges in all regions for life, especially for remote
areas with severe weather conditions, even though the probability of
such events are regarded as theoretically low.
There is a need for more efforts as to capacities, technology
development, improvement of routines and competence to reduce the
probability of accidents. Also, governments should continue to discuss
constant monitoring and regulation of traffic in high risk areas. Within
the new Polar code (adopted by IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee
(MSC), in November 2014 (IMO, 2014) ) there should be special
efforts from the governments in the North to implement special rules
and regulations to avoid accidents, and to increase competence. Finally,
there is a need for developing better search and rescue technology, oil
spill response capacities in cold water areas, and not at least
communication and transport infrastructure within the region for fast
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